Foreign Ministry doesn’t want Left donations limited

In what has been described as a rare move, the Foreign Ministry submitted a brief to the government opposing a bill presented by MK Ofir Akunis (Likud),
which calls for the State to limit donor funds to leftist organizations.

The bill specifically targets funds donated by the United Nations and European Union to the more extreme left-wing groups.

Akunis' bill states that, "In light of the inciting activities of many groups operating under the guise of 'human rights groups,' which seek to influence the political discourse and the nature of the State of Israel – the State cannot allow other nations to so freely intervene in its internal affairs.

"This bill aims to prevent the interference of foreign nations in Israeli politics via their support of groups of a political nature."

The Foreign Ministry believes such a move would "create the contrary effect and only increase the delegitimization of Israel around the world."

"The Ministry thinks the bill – and even just discussing it, let along any governmental support in it – could turn out to be a double-edge sword, which would only increase Israel's delegitimization around the world, thus achieving the opposite aim," said the brief.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel also opposes the bill, slamming it as "abuse of power by politicians who target organizations who have other world views. This is not defensive democracy. This isn’t democracy at all."

Akunis' bill will be reviewed by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation next week.